A Surprisingly Cold and Snowy Winter

Walking the dogs in the morning is a perilous adventure this winter. With snow covering the ground and a layer of ice covering the driveway, I’ve had to equip myself in more ways than one.

Ice grippers on the boots are imperative to prevent me lying on my back side. My red down jacket has gotten quite the workout this winter, as have my wool hats and mittens. Frequently temperatures have been hovering in the single digits or (gasp!) even below zero.

I got a comment from one of our friends about all the pile burning he’s been able to do this winter. It’s surprising to hear that because pile burning requires five inches of snow covering the ground. Last winter, that would have been a rarity, but not this year. It seems like the snow has been on the ground for months, probably since November. We did have a melt off for a few days, but new snow quickly covered the ground again and cold temperatures have kept it there.

We are currently sitting at 80 inches for the season with our snowiest months ahead of us — March, April, May. During our ten years in Nederland, most our biggest snowstorms (two feet or more) have occurred in spring time. So having more than 50% of our 150-inch average right now bodes well for above average snowfall for the season.

Though Nederland’s biggest snowstorm in recent history was in March, 2003, the last decade hasn’t brought big snowstorms in March. In fact, April and May have been far more snowy in the past few years, including a 3-foot snowstorm on May 19, 2017! (the featured photo above is from this storm). So don’t get too eager to take those snow tires off the car until Memorial Day is upon us.

Let’s hope this year will be different and that Frozen Dead Guy Days will indeed be frozen and snowy!

For a detailed write up of this season’s winter as well as the prognosis for the rest of our snow season, please visit my husband’s weather blog. Here’s the link: